Reading List 2016

Puzzlers, below is my reading list for the past year.  The ones in bold/green are the best. Ravished Armenia by Aurora Mardiganian

Unbroken: A WW II Story of Survival, Resilience & Redemptoin by Laura Hillenbrand

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard

The Red Scream by Mary Willis Walker

Hunted Past Reason by Richard Matheson

Firebreak by Richard Stark (Donald Westlake)

The Black Sun by Jack Williamson

The Bottoms by Joe Lansdale

Empire of Deception by Dean Jobb

Sex on the Moon by Ben Mezrich

The Road to Ruin by Donald Westlake

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

The Bookmaker by Michael Agovino

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

Revival by Stephen King

The Invitation-Only Zone: True Story of N Korea's Abduction Project by Robert Boynton

Disclaimer by Renee Knight

Superthief: A Master Burglar, the Mafia and the Biggest Bank Heist in US History by Rick Porrello

The Whore's Child by Richard Russon

Joyland by Stephen King

Why I Left Goldman Sachs by Greg Smith

The Boys on the Boat By Daniel James Brown

Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie

Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Christie

Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh

Bookless in Baghdad by Shashi Tharoor

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams: Stories by Stephen King

PT 109 by William Doyle

The Mosque of Notre Dame by Elena Chudinova

High Stakes by Dick Francis

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

The Dog Who Wouldn't Be by Farley Mowatt

o:anquan by Pine Entertainment Free

  

o:anquan is a point scoring puzzle app game.  It's has a very unique concept. Not easy to explain. According to the author: 'The idea of ​​o: anquan is inspired by the control of a traditional Vietnamese children's board game (Spread the number to score). '  Ell Tee is the author who also did numDance, see link below.

  

You score points by getting 2 or more identical numbers. Suppose you have a 6. You can spread it out into all 1's or maybe a single 4 and two 1's.

After every move, 3 new numbers are added.  Also, higher points are awarded for large clusters and for higher numbers.

This is a very serious point scoring game.  Patience is required. The top scorer has 306,420,695 which is beyond phenomenal.

My high score is 13,756 which places me at 273 out of 52,927 players.

https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/o-anquan/id1146370693?mt=8

Other Point Scoring Games Worthy of Your Time
NumberMania
Four Straight Lines
Pushopolous
Stickets
Folt
Nineout
Nineout II
BeeCells Lite
Kindly Colors
HexAgony
Domino Drop
Put Number
Tripevo
Triple Town     
Kindly  Colors
COLORswipe
SubaraCity
Virus Pop Smash
+1 Number
4 Way Puzzle
Merged!
Enso

Politaire

Treple

numDance

Black Boxes

numDance by Pine Entertainment Free

  

Ell Tee is the creator of numDance, which is a point scoring puzzle app game. It's tough to explain.

  

1.  Only 1's or 2's can be tapped.
2.  They can be tapped if and only if there are 2 identical numbers adjacent to it.
3.  Two 2's will merge to form a single 3 in the space between them.

The first tap will automatically lead to a massive chain reaction.
Coming up with a strategy is tougher than I thought.
My high score is 1164 and my highest tile is 8.
numDance definitely has an addictive element because you can play one game in about 5 minutes.
If you manage to get a 9 tile, take a screen shot and post it in the comments section.
https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/numdance/id1134557051?mt=8

Conde Deluxe by Evil Indie Games $.99

  

Conde Deluxe is a pipe connecting puzzle app game.  The object is to use the pipes to get the electricity to each of the nodes.

  

Pieces can be rotated, but not flipped.
There are 42 levels and I've solved 23.  This is a good game!  Thanks to Loyal Blog Follower Joel for pointing this out.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/conde-deluxe/id815115848?mt=8

Snakes - Move Snakes, Fill Board

  

Wan William recently contacted me about his company's new puzzle app game Snakes - Move Snakes, Fill Board. The object is to fill the board with snakes of different sizes.  The first 40 levels are very easy.  5 minutes was all I needed, and that includes watching a couple of ads.

  

There are 400 levels split into 10 worlds.  Worlds 9 & 10 are where things get interesting.  Why? Because that's where the snakes can overlap. That's where the game, to me, is more of a Ribbon Puzzle.

Yes, I did solve all 400 levels. Some of them are hard, but not nearly as hard as some of the other Ribbon Puzzles listed below.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id1165326929

Other Ribbon Puzzles
Ribbons Puzzle Game
The Weaver
Ribbon Puzzle
TAPES - similar to Colorbind. Excellent
Woven - easy
Colorbind - the first of its kind. Genius
Twisted Lines - very hard
Spreadset Easy til you get to level 7 or 8

Blocky XMAS by Bart Buie Free!

  

Bart Buie recently contacted me about his newest puzzle app: Blocky XMAS. It combines the famous sokoban element with a sticky ingredient.  The objective is to transfer the green square and rectangles to the destination to make a perfectly shaped Christmas tree.

  

You control the green square with the star. It will stick to the other green bars.  You will have to pry it off multiple times for each level.

There are 40 levels. Perfect number.  What's the best thing about Blocky XMAS: the puzzles are designed
extremely well.

iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blocky-xmas/id1182378091?mt=8

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.bartbonte.blockyxmas

http://www.bontegames.com/2016/12/blocky-xmas-browser-version-browser.html

Other Bart Puzzles:

What's Inside the Box?

Factory Balls

Other Very Good Puzzles that have a sticky element (not quite the same though):

Denki Blocks I believe this was the original puzzle app that introduced this concept.

Tile'M All This version is crazy hard.

Jelly Slide

Blockoban - a must have

Impossibru's Blockoban

Move on Green

Waiit by GalacticThumb Free

  

Waiit is a point scoring puzzle app. The game is a tilt maze: swipe in any direction and the two pieces will travel until they hit a wall.  Your Goal is to get the men to traverse through their respective gates.  Again and again, as fast as possible.  The grid at the bottom of the screen is constantly disappearing. If Your Men are on it: game over.

Waiit is immensely popular.  Probably because the iTunes store highlighted it. I think this is a good game.  It's brings out the frantic in you.  Especially when you've got the Red Man past his gate and you're trying to get Green past his gate and then you realize, Red has returned.

http://galacticthumb.com/
https://itunes.apple.com/app/waiit/id1169530248

The PAGY Award are fast approaching.  If you want to nominate some puzzle apps, contact me: (my last name)@hotmail.com  The final awards will be announced December 31.

Push The Squares - Puzzle Game by Pixel Points

  

Push The Squares - Puzzle Game is another version of Game About Squares from 2 years ago.

The object is to push the colored tiles in the direction of the arrow that's on them and get to the colored stars.  Lots and lots of wormholes.

  

97 levels for the free version.  I've done about 25 levels.  Good puzzles, good graphics, good price.  But there are so many other versions of this.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/push-the-squares-puzzle-game/id1169123420?mt=8

The PAGY Award are fast approaching.  If you want to nominate some puzzle apps, contact me: (my last name)@hotmail.com  The final awards will be announced December 31.

PAGY Awards are coming

1.  https://vimeo.com/127338218 - math video; it's long.

2.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oohKXK0FvJE&list=TLGGkaCyZ3-KLJwwNTEyMjAxNg -tangram type puzzles

3.  http://geekologie.com/2016/12/japanese-mans-insane-coin-stacking-skill.php

4.  The PAGY Awards are fast approaching. If you have already volunteered to be a part of this committee: please send me a list of the puzzles that should be nominated.  Make a separate list for which puzzles should get an award.  Email me: (mylastname)@hotmail.com   

If you have not previously stated that you want to be on this committee, but now want to join it, send me an email.

Rookfall by By Michael Bunger Free

 

Rookfall is one of those games where the objective is to fill the entire grid by swiping a rook as far as it will travel.

You first must choose the starting point.  The red lines are walls that cannot be traversed.

I tackled about 20 of the 5x5 grids.  There are about 100 levels in the 5x5 size. I didn't play any of the 6x6 or 7x7 because those cost money.  And besides, I've done thousands of these over the years via other apps.

I like the graphics.  The rook travels fast.

http://www.rookfall.com/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rookfall-free/id1184528452?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ButterGames.RookfallFree

Similar Games
Mortal Coil - in the Puzzle App Hall of Fame
Stroke! - largely overlooked,  adds a color matching scheme that makes it devilishly hard.
Full House Touch
Full Monster Puzzle 
Berry Puzzle 
Eat A Way
Filling 
Block Path
Snake Walk
Mr. Square

Queue Ball - Free Minimalist Puzzle Challenge by Digitype Agency Free

  

Queue Ball - Free Minimalist Puzzle Challenge is the name of game. Do you remember Sequence Nine from a few months ago?  The two games are extremely similar, just different graphics.

  

The object is to get the ball - Your Man - to pick up the stars.  Look at the last image.  See the 4 empty squares on top? Those are the 4 steps for that problem and they will repeat over and over until the objective is met, or Your Man falls off the grid. You must choose which direction each step should be. The third image shows an example of the steps.

  

I don't know how many levels there are, but I'm stuck on level 25 or 26.  Good game.

Website: http://queueball.info
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/queue-ball-free-minimalist/id1144444409?mt=8
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.digitype.sequence

The Lift by Sparky Entertainment India Free

  

The Lift by Sparky Entertainment India is a charming little puzzle. The objective is to get everybody to their correct floor without running out of energy.

  

Look at the 2nd image.  The top bar shows the energy.  Moving the Lift without anybody on it, uses 2 bars.  With somebody on it, just 1 bar.

The first 15 levels are straight forward and not too hard. I had to redo some levels to get 3 stars.
The next batch: things get harder. More floors. The elevator can hold multiple people.  Although Tubby counts as two people.

I love the graphics. On the harder levels, you can't see the entire building, you must scroll up and down and try to see the big picture. The levels definitely get more challenging.

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/the-lift/id1174328113?mt=8

Mind Mould - Block Puzzle Game by LAI Global Game Services Free

Karin Skoog recently contacted me about a new puzzle app game Mind Mould - Block Puzzle Game.

The object it to fill the given space (looks like a tangram) with the random shaped tiles at the bottom middle.

Made a mistake? The rocket targets the specific piece that you want out of the grid. The bomb will take out a big chunk.

Technically, this is a 'packing puzzle'. I've never been a huge fan.of these.

The icon that represents the game is Anime of a woman with cleavage. This has nothing to do with the game.

There are 80 levels and I've done about 25 of them.

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mind-mould-block-puzzle-game/id1050681041?mt=8

Story trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Il7FXq75tE

Gameplay trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJxf9drCemE

Swatches - Puzzle Game by Ian Clawson Free

  

Swatches - Puzzle Game comes from Ian Clawson.  It's a maze puzzle.

The object is to start at one of the black squares and get to the other one. The path must cross through all of the cells. That's the suggested route. You could start at any cell. Just find a path that crosses each and every cell.

Each cell has an inner square color and an outer color.  One of the 2 colors must match either color of a neighboring cell in order for them to form a path.

24 Easy Levels
24 Medium Levels
24 Hard Levels

I did all the Easy & Medium levels and maybe 5 of the Hard ones.  I like this concept. The only problem I have with it is the actual colors. It's an explosion. I've actually solved many of the levels without really paying attention to the colors because drawing a path through every cell - there aren't that many possibilities.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/swatches-puzzle-game/id1168323422?mt=8
https://launchkit.io/websites/dH3cLYusgPw/

Warship Solitaire by Nexx Studio No longer Free! $1.99

  

Did you play Battleships when you were a kid?  Great game.
For many years, Games Magazine published a slew of Solitaire Battleships. I think that was the title.

 

Warship Solitaire is exactly the same thing. You must find where the 5 ships are: one 3 units, two that each 2 units, and three of 1 unit.  Ships can never be adjacent, not even diagonally.  The numbers on the bottom indicate how many squares above have a ship.  Same for the numbers on the right.  It's all logical.

There are 125 levels. I've solved all of the Seaman and almost all of the Lieutenant levels.

http://www.warshipsolitaire.com/
https://itunes.apple.com/app/warship-solitaire/id868103965

Short video on how computers draw curves.

A smart colleague of mine passed this on to me recently:


http://sploid.gizmodo.com/fantastic-explanation-of-how-computers-draw-curves-1641989231

Similo by Nicolas Beaudette Free

  

I've never seen The Bard in a puzzle app. Though I did read a fascinating article that pointed at some clues that implied that he did not write all those plays.

The object of Similio is to draw a connecting line among similar shapes or similar colored objects in order to achieve various objectives.  Kind of like Candy Crush, but not necessarily in a grid pattern.

Smaller objects will fall through the cracks via gravity.

I played maybe 5 or 6 levels. It's not a pure puzzle because when objects link up and disappear, random ones appear.  You might need some reds with 10 moves left and get them, or not.

If you like Candy Crush, give Similio a try.

http://www.similogame.com/en/home/
https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1088319336